It is desirable to have a means for exercising horses under circumstances where it would not be practical to provide such exercise. This is especially true for horses in northern climates in the winter when opportunities for exercise are relatively limited.
Horse exercisers have been developed which employ a generally flat belt of rubberized fabric or the like which is held in tension between a pair of smooth rollers to form an upper and a lower run. The upper run of the belt is supported by a plurality of parallel transverse rollers which hold the upper run in a substantially planar configuration. One of the smooth rollers is driven by a motor to cause the horse on the upper run to engage in exercise.
A horse exerciser as above described has a number of drawbacks which will be dealt with in the following paragraphs.
A flat belt conveyor running on smooth rollers tends to move from side to side on these smooth rollers. This provides a relatively unstable surface for the horse to negotiate.
In the winter, horses are usually shod with shoes having projecting winter calks for piercing ice on a roadway to prevent slipping. Such winter calks can so rapidly destroy a conveyor belt that exercising a horse wearing calks is impractical.
The upper run of conveyor belting supported by parallel transverse rollers imparts a ripple or fore-and-aft wobbling angular motion to the horse's hoof as it is drawn back by the conveyor belt. This can lead to ankle separation.
Flat conveyor belts are also subject to changes with moisture and temperature which may require frequent adjustment.
Since horse exercisers are typically used in rural areas where three phase power may not be available, the ability to power such devices from single-phase power is desirable.